Public wants government to force power companies to offer cheaper deals, poll finds

By Adam Carey, Benjamin Preiss

February 8, 2018 — 6.14pm

Most Victorians are very concerned about rising power prices, lack trust in electricity retailers and want the Andrews government to step in and force them to offer cheaper deals, a poll has found.

The ReachTel poll of 1124 residents across Victoria was taken on the night of January 29, one day after a series of local network failures left 90,000 customers without power during a heatwave.

Consumers are very concerned about rising electricity prices.

Commissioned by the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the poll found there is clear support for more government intervention in the electricity market, an idea the Andrews government is considering, but which retailers warn would force smaller players out of the market.

The poll found 39 per cent of Victorians strongly support government action to compel electricity retailers to provide a basic service offer to all Victorian households and 27 per cent support the idea, while 25 per cent oppose it and just six per cent are strongly opposed.

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A "basic service offer" - a no-frills contract at a price set by a government regulator - was the key recommendation of a bipartisan review of Victoria's electricity and gas retail markets, released by the Andrews government in August.

The review found that privatisation had failed to benefit customers, that energy retailers had put profits ahead of people, and that a standard offer could save the average household about $200 a year.

The poll also found an overwhelming 88 per cent of respondents were concerned about electricity prices, with 58 per cent very concerned.

Eleven per cent said they were not concerned.

In another blow for the retailers, just 28 per cent said they trusted them to act in consumers' best interests, and 71 per cent said they do not trust their electricity company.

Gerard Brody, the Consumer Action Law Centre's chief executive, said Victorians wanted the government to intervene to bring down power prices and that six months after the review was released, it was time for action.

"This poll clearly shows that the community supports the major policy recommendation of the independent review – a fair price guarantee, set by the government regulator," Mr Brody said.

The call for government intervention was echoed by the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

"This research confirms that Victorians don't trust their power companies," executive director Conny Lenneberg said. "They want government to step in and guarantee a fair price."

Almost 30,000 Victorian households and more than 3000 small businesses had their electricity switched off in 2016-17 for failing to pay their bills, data from the Essential Services Commission shows.

The Victorian Opposition does not support reregulation, arguing it will reduce competition.

"Retailers and Daniel Andrews both need to lift their game on electricity prices but a standard offer is only a short-term solution because it will eventually force out the smaller players and that means less competition," shadow energy minister David Southwick said.

"The ACCC have reported that the retail margins in Victoria are the highest of any state but Daniel Andrews is pointing fingers at everybody else but himself," he said.

Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said the government was investing millions of dollars in renewable energy to boost supply and bring down prices.

Ms D'Ambrosio said the government's work "has already led to major savings for hundreds of thousands of households, who will see their power prices slashed by up to $720 this year".

Premier Daniel Andrews said in response to the blackouts that he wished Victoria's electricity network had never been privatised.

In Parliament on Thursday, after thousands more consumers lost power during Wednesday's warm weather, Mr Andrews said he had met with the energy distributors on Monday and made it clear they needed to "provide support to all affected customers".

In Question Time, Mr Andrews said he expected energy businesses would make payments "over and above their obligations".

"Very, very profitable businesses should support customers who are impacted by unacceptable local outages," he said.

The premier told Parliament there were also existing policies in place for "in essence insurance claims" that should be honoured.